Resilience Through Belonging: Schools’ Role in Promoting the Mental Health and Well-Being of Children and Young People

After almost a decade of the policy promotion of resilience-building initiatives in schools, mental health figures have not improved. Recent research points to shortfalls in adopting individualistic policy perspectives on resilience when supporting children’s well-being. The originality of this paper lies in our argument that a broader consideration of resilience that acknowledges the importance of collective and relational approaches could enhance school-based well-being support. Our social identities are multiple, and the individual aspects of our identities are multilayered. A more nuanced consideration of children’s sense of belonging across the different social domains of their lives is, therefore, important in developing well-being approaches that prevent poor mental health outcomes for all children. We draw on data from the Belonging in School Study, the largest school-belonging study undertaken in the city of London, which was conducted between 2023 and 2024. This paper focuses on data collected from online survey responses from almost 2000 students and subsequent focus groups with 76 students. Three identity factors emerge as highly important to young people’s sense of belonging in school: social and cultural identity, peer group identity and individual identity. Descriptive statistical analysis of the survey findings and thematic analysis of the focus group discussion suggest that the importance of the elements within these three factors is relative to students’ social characteristics and levels of social privilege.